PROCEEDINGS | Scientific Symposium
to the flooding of natural islands. Artificial islands are called Chibasha and consist of several layers of reeds
and rushes, interspersed with layers of mud. Then, the islands are compressed together and stabilized with
stakes. This process is continued until an adequate height is reached and the artificial island becomes solid.
Homes on Chibasha are made from reeds and rushes, and each Chibasha has between 15 and 25 houses.
The forth type is: Al-mudhif The most famous and important type is the guesthouse, or Al-mudhif. It is one
of the major cultural and social phenomena of the marshes. It cannot be considered just a house; rather it
is a place used to receive guests and hold meetings. Al-mudhif belongs to the tribe’s leader, who is known
(sheikh), and the whole village is responsible for the building process,The sheikh’s guest house (mudhif) in
the marshland is an arched building made of reeds, built higher and more detailed than the other dwellings
in the area to display the architectural creativity and building skills that go back more than six thousand
years. (Alwan,2005).
Fig.6 - The exterior and interior of al-mudhif,Ahmed Neema 2014
Marshmen Raise a Prefabricated House; Even the Scaffold Is Made of Reeds the marshmen take their
collapsible homes with them where’re they go due to the lacking wood, they turn for building material to
the giant reed, which grows 20 feet high in the marshes. Workers here use ropes to pull together bundles of
stalks set in the ground. Man on the tripod joins the tip ends with reed twine, forming arches. Split-reed mats
complete walls and roof. The marsh is a place of many moods and colors, sometimes bright and sparkling,
some- times dark and somber. Buildings Made Entirely Of A typical mudhif, in which I have often stayed,
consists of 11 arches and is 60 feet long, 20 feet wide. and 18 feet high. but the longest mudhif I have seen
consisted of 21 arches and was 120 feet long. The rib of each arch is nine feet in circumference at the bottom,
tapers to about two and a half feet at the top, and is made from a great number of thin reeds carefully bound
together. The inside of the mudhif is of great special space, so that one has the curious feeling of being inside
a cathedral, an effect enhanced by the ribbed vaulting and the trellis-covered windows. (Thesiger, 1954),
(Maxwell, 1962),( Jacobson, 2004).
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Fig.7 - The interior lighting, 1954 Thesiger